Henry brought joy in his short life

Thursday

Jun 23, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 23, 2011 at 11:04 PM

Christine Sullivan

“Big Momma in the House!” said Big Momma as she walked into Junior English, with all “her” attitude and personality. Except it wasn’t Big Momma, it was Henry Thevenin. While most teenage boys wouldn’t dare dress up as a woman as a joke, even if it was Halloween, Henry was not most teenage boys. He was truly a presence in A220, every Period 4 he was there. When classmates, or even myself, were having a particularly bad day, Henry’s smile morphed that negative energy into something positive and productive for as long as he was there.

An excellent leader, always selected to head groups in group work, Henry was a model student. Sociable, even though he had to be reminded to stay on task instead of chatting with friends (and everyone in the room was friends with Henry), he always did it with a smile, and never back-talked. He cared genuinely for other people; for his research paper/final exam, Henry went above and beyond the requirements for the assignment, researching hunger and poverty in Brockton. He visited centers and shelters in his community, and reported his findings to his classmates with vivid imagery and gusto that would have engaged even the most detached and heartless audience. This was not an isolated incident for Henry – he was always finding some way to connect to others and help in any way he could.

I wrote Henry a recommendation to college his senior year, and when I wished him well in the teacher receiving line on his graduation day, I was confident he was going on to be someone whose name I would hear again in the future. I never expected it would be this way. To learn that he had passed took my breath away – while all deaths are mourned, the life of a young person cut short is always harder to grasp. With so many possibilities for his future which looked bright, it’s hard to focus on the positive – but Henry would want us to. In his short life, he made so many happy and brought such joy, proving to us the old cliché that God only takes the best. He was a star in life, and too Henry is a star in death:

Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.